Implementation of new approaches: The Accounting Chamber adopts the experience of the United Kingdom and Poland regarding focus audits

The Accounting Chamber specialists were able to get acquainted with the features of focus audits, investigate their impact on improving the efficiency of public administration, and share their own experiences thanks to a two-day training organized by the National Audit Office of the United Kingdom (NAO). The event was held in Goławice (Republic of Poland).

During this trip, specialists from the Supreme Audit Office of Poland also shared their experience of conducting focus audits with Ukrainian colleagues.

The trainings were attended by members of the Accounting Chamber Kyrylo Klymenko and Yelizaveta Puszko-Cybuliak, as well as thirteen auditors.

For reference: Focus audits are control measures that differ from traditional audits in their efficiency (12-14 weeks) and fewer problematic issues. They usually concern sensitive topics of public interest and require an immediate response.

During the trainings, the auditors of the Accounting Chamber got acquainted with the concept of focus audits, their features, the history of the development of approaches to conducting operational audits of NAOs, studied the impact of focus audits on increasing the efficiency of public administration, and also shared their own experiences in conducting focus audits. In addition, the participants of the trainings analyzed individual cases of conducting focus audits of SAIs of the United Kingdom and Poland.

The Accounting Chamber will hold at least four such events in 2025. They will concern the preservation of the insurance fund of Ukrainian documentation, state support for agricultural producers, the implementation of tasks by the Expert Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and state support for cinematography.

Following the trainings, the member of the Accounting Chamber, Kyrylo Klymenko thanked the British and Polish colleagues for working with the Accounting Chamber in this new direction for Ukrainian auditors.

«At this stage of implementing new approaches in its activities, it is very useful for the Accounting Chamber to adopt the practical approaches used by the NAO to conduct focus audits. Clear rules and at the same time flexibility of the methodology when studying various topics will contribute to the rapid start of the audit and the prompt achievement of the results of the control measure», – he noted.

Elizaveta Pushko-Tsybulyak separately expressed gratitude to the SAI of the United Kingdom for the support provided within the framework of the first focus - audit of the Accounting Chamber on the implementation of the project for the procurement of unmanned aircraft systems and means of monitoring the Ukrainian-Polish border.

«During its implementation and presentation of the results of the study, we received recommendations from the NAO on the application of a practical approach that is used both in the United Kingdom and in other countries. At the same time, the training that our auditors underwent the other day helped the participants both consolidate existing skills and acquire new ones,&rdash; noted Yelizaveta Pushko-Tsybulyak.

Recall that during the aforementioned focus audit in 2024, the Accounting Chamber established the cause of problems with the procurement of monitoring equipment for the Ukrainian-Polish border for a total amount of 7 million euros.

The study trip took place within the framework of the activities of the EUROSAI Project Group "Support to the Accounting Chamber by EUROSAI", which was created in 2023 at the initiative of the NAO of the United Kingdom.

Recall that on March 20, during the meeting the project group discussed priority areas of further work for 2025.